Free Dark inheritance by Roberta Leigh Page A

Dominic's father died and we decided a sea voyage would do us good. Oh, my, you've no idea of the luxury and extravagance and gaiety. I made the best of everything and loved every minute of it. That's why I don't mind having to take it easy now, although I must say I'd have loved to have seen Athens." She sighed. "Is it as lovely as its pictures?"
    "Far more beautiful."
    "I think the whole of Greece must be lovely, otherwise it would never have captured dear Byron's heart as it did."
    "Mr. Rockwood was very interesting about it. I don't think I'd have appreciated it nearly as much without him."
    "Dear Dominic, I was sure he'd be informative. He' been almost everywhere in the world, you know. Fro the time he was about fourteen he went abroad wit his father nearly every year. I hardly remember hi spending a holiday at Crags' Height once he was in long trousers. That's when he and Mark began to grow apart. It seemed as though Hugh wanted to get his so out of the house, as if he was afraid Margaret might " She broke off and bent over her knitting.
    Barbara wondered what she had been about to say, but knew that once the old woman had made up her mind not to speak, nothing would make her do so. What was this mystery surrounding Rockwood's mother and father? Was his father to blame or was it perhaps the woman of whom there was no trace at Crags'
    Height—the woman who might never have existed had not the soft and gracious atmosphere of the two main rooms borne witness to her influence?
    Her mind was so full of Crags' Height and its strange owner that she was startled to find him suddenly at her Side, his back to the sun, his figure outlined against the sky, and she wondered what he would say if she mid him her thoughts. But die sight of his powerful hand some face with its broad forehead and sweep of dark-red hair made her feel that however friendly they became it would be impossible to penetrate the barriers of his reserve, and she knew that if a woman loved him it would have to be because she was willing to take him without question, to share his future yet never know his past.
    "I came up to tell you well soon be passing through the Canal," he said. "It's a pity the weather's not warm er, but never mind. There's still a chance the wind may blow the clouds away."
    The sky had been darkening for the last hour and now it began to look as if there might be a storm. Hardly had he finished speaking when they heard an ominous growl of thunder and within a few minutes the wind was lashing the sea into a fury of grey waves.
    Without warning Rockwood stooped and picked his aunt up in his arms, and they raced for cover as vivid streaks of lightning rent the sky and rain started to stream down in torrents. From the shelter of the hatchway they stood and watched the sudden storm.
    "I hope it clears before we reach the Gulf," Barbara panted.
    "I think it will," Rockwood replied. "These storms blow themselves out as quickly as they develop."
    He was proved right, for with a suddenness that was startling the wind ceased and died down, and although the sky was still cloudy when they went out on deck again, watery shafts of sunlight were breaking through the grcyness.
    There was no sign of a canal and it seemed to Barbara as if the boat was going to cut a way through the mainland of the promontory ahead, but as they drew near she saw that a straight narrow passage had been hewn out of the rock. The ship's engines were shut off and the boat glided silently in, a ghostly body without a pulse, until it was taken in tow by a small black tug that chug ged busily ahead, puffed out with importance at pulling a boat so much larger than itself, and exuding great clouds of black smoke as it did so.
    Very slowly they glided along the ribbon of water with barely three feet to spare on each hand. The land was flat and bare on either side and their progress was watched by groups of Greek children and a flock of bored sheep grazing on the rocky edge of the